Small tank with clown fish-- do I need an anemone?

Question

I know I've probably misspelled "anemone." :) My daughter is dying for a saltwater tank (I'm thinking 30 gallons, max) and some clown fish. My knowledge of clownfish is pretty much limited to Nemo. Do they get along with one another? Are they better off alone? Do you need one of those anemonme things for their home? What's the care involved with that? We've had a freshwater tank with goldfish... how much harder would you say saltwater will be? She's been talking about getting clownfish for over a year (since we gave our other tank to neighbors when we moved cross-country and I promised her we'd get another fish tank after we moved). Well, it's a year later and I was hoping she'd forget, but alas...
Any advice is much appreciated.

Answer 1

You can keep one or a pair of clownfish as long as they're the same species. And they don't need to have an anemone. Most of the fish you see in stores now are captive bred, or tank raised and have never been with an anemone. Thirty gallons would be a good size tank fo a pair, plus a few other possible fish (no dory, though, they get much too large!).

I would suggest you try just fish before you attempt an anemone - they have very specific lighting requirements, and not all anemones will host all species of clowns - you need to find species that will be compatible.

There are a number of other fish that are compatible with clowns. I'm assuming that your daughter will be interested in the species that are most like Nemo (Ocellaris and Percula). In a 30 gallon tank, you could try any of these (up to 2 total fish if you have a pair of clowns): cardinalfish (up to 2 if a male and female), clown goby (1 only), firefish (1 only), longnose hawkfish (1 only), canary blenny (1 only), scissortail goby (2-3), bicolor pseudochromis (1). Try to avoid fish with similar coloration or body shapes, as this can lead to territorial aggression if one fish sees another as a "rival". You couls also keep some shrimp, hermit crans, snails and other invertebrates in the tank.

As far as ease of care, saltwater does require a little more in the way of equipment, especially if you want to get an anemone. Anemones contain photosynthetic algae, so they need to have intense lighting. I wouldn't suggest trying anything less than a compact fluorescent fixture, and one with a compact fluorescent/metal halide combo might be even better if the anemone you would choose has higher lighting needs. It also requires regular cleaning and water changes because saltwater fish are less tolerant than freshwater of poor water quality.

You'll need the obvious basics of tank, filter, heater, etc. as well, plus some things that aren't used in freshwater, such as a hydromenter, and a protein skimmer is strongly suggested, but not required if you only choose to keep fish. The hydrometer measures the concentration of salt in the water, the protein skimmer removes small particles and dissolved organic materials that would otherwise contribute to the nitrates and phosphates in the tank.

Instead of aquarium gravel, the substrate should be crushed coral or aragonite (shell) material to help balance the pH in the tank. Live rock (the "live" refers to bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle) add a more natural appearance, can be stacked into caves to provide the fish and inverts with hiding spots, and helps with the biological filtration in the tank.

As you can see, there's a lot of info involved in keeping a marine tank. Get a good book, read as much as you can, and plan the tank (and involve your daughter in the process as much as her age will permit) before you get too involved with buying fish or equipment.

I'll put some website below that can help you with some of the research:
http://www.apapets.com/MarineEcosystem/whatto.htm
http://www.bestfish.com/tips/032698.html
http://www.carlosreef.com/AnemoneFAQ.pdf
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pcatid=15
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/
http://www.peteducation.com/index.cfm?cls=16

Good luck!

Answer 2

well absicly ditto. as for a skimmer in a 30, there are some nano skimmers out there but i would check reefcentral.com for advice on one. look into a wet/dry or sump filter, good stuff. no you do not need an anenome. a biowheel filter is ok as long as you get one for a larger tank, flow is very important in a saltwater tank, go for atleast 10x per hour, maxi-jets powerheads are the best here. a model 600 or 900 + your filter should do. iu would definetly get live rock, it is expensive but look into garf.org. they have a section for making your own live rock, little people will love that. just be sure not to use more than half of the self made stuff and floow the directions carefully. 15lbs of the fake stuff should do it, along with 15lbs real. sorry this reads like it does, i just got home....lol any more questions just post. ahh i almost for got, use RO water available from walmart of target for a round 33 cents a gallon, will really help with the algae. and the tank will look like hell after you add the rock for a month or two, this is normal, you will see alot of worms, ect all of this is natural and quite desirable, it will go away. you can get snails and hermits to control this, maybe 3-4 snails and 2 hermits a few weeks after adding the rock. later maybe a total of 6-8 snails and 4-6 hermits should be fine. fish a clownfish obvioulsy, the whole reason your starting the tank...lol firefish are good looking as are clown gobies, engineer gobies. basicly in a small tank like that will be alot of gobies, alot of other small fish are agressive. no damsels, mean and no mandarin gobies, very very specialized feeder. most of the fish will do fine on a 50/50 combo of frozen mysis, enriched brine and the other half flake. you can also try a small 1/4" square of nori bidaily availoable at walmart in the oriental food section, i have seen some clownfish nibble a bit at it and some dont, if they dont eat it be surre to feed flake food , they need some vegitable matter in there diet and look up cynobacteria, a red slimy algae EVEREYONE gets at least once, kinda like evryone has at least one fish die on them, the powerheads will help with that nasty stuff. hope this helps, sorry im so sleeep and kinda everywhere at once

Answer 3

Small Clown Fish